EVOLUTIONARY SYNTHESIS OF THE ENERGETICS AND MASS-LOSS OF STARBURST STELLAR CLUSTERS - STARBURSTS AND ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

In this paper, we calculate models for the energetics and mass budget of starburst stellar clusters, in particular their bolometric luminosi ties from various sources, stellar mass-loss rates and supernova rates . We use the method of evolutionary population synthesis, based on acc urate stellar evolution tracks, to find models consistent with stellar evolution over long time-scales. Because of the significance of starb ursts in the evolution of galaxies, our models of their energetics hav e many diverse applications, e.g. globular clusters, OB associations, etc. In this paper, we study the influence of our models on various th eories for the structure and evolution of active galactic nuclei. We f ind that pure starbursts have difficulty in accounting for the energet ics and variability of AGN; instead, the fuelling of the nucleus is ex plained naturally if the starburst region surrounds a massive accretin g black hole. The supernovae in such a cluster are a natural site for the formation of broad emission lines. In this paper we show, using ou r detailed population models, that the number of supernovae predicted by the mass accretion rate is sufficient to generate the observed cove ring factor of supernova shocks by the mechanism described by Perry & Dyson.